Q As you know, today, Ronald Reagan's remains will be flown to
Washington for the state funeral. And many Americans have been
thinking about Nancy Reagan.

MRS. BUSH: Well, I certainly have been thinking about Nancy
Reagan.

Q Have you spoken with her?

MRS. BUSH: I haven't spoken to her. We -- the President did, of
course, and we'll call on her tomorrow night when we get back to
Washington. But I have thought about her all week. I've been thinking
about Ronald Reagan all week as well.

Q So you will see for the first time Nancy and the family who
will be staying near the White House?

MRS. BUSH: That's right. We'll see them tomorrow night when we
get to Washington. We'll pay a call on them. And then, of course,
we'll see them at the funeral.

We'll host the world leaders at the White House before the funeral
and then all go there together.

Q Your President -- your President and your husband --
(laughter) -- will deliver the eulogy at the national funeral service
on Friday. What will he say?

MRS. BUSH: Well, he's been working on that and thinking about that
this week while we've been here in Sea Island.

I think he'll talk about how Ronald Reagan believed in America. I
think that's why Americans loved him so much, because he was so
optimistic and had such great strength of character, and he was funny
and fun to be with, and a very, very warm personality. And he just
believed in the people of America. And I think that's why people loved
him.

Q You seem personally moved.

MRS. BUSH: Well, I am. I mean, you know, we knew him, of course.
Our -- George's father was his Vice President. We didn't know him
well; we didn't go to the White House often. But we did go some while
George's dad was Vice President.

And when you go to the White House, especially for the first time,
which that was the first time for us, you're intimidated, you don't
know what you're going to say when you are in the receiving line and
meet the President and the First Lady. But he could always make you
feel at home and feel welcome, and there was something great about his
very modest but strong personality.

Q And he suffered from Alzheimer's, which your father suffered
from.

MRS. BUSH: That's right.

Q A painful disease. And, as you know, Nancy Reagan has become
an advocate of finding a cure and has differed with your husband on the
issue and has said he should ease restrictions on stem cell research.

MRS. BUSH: Well, we're all advocates for a cure for Alzheimer's.
I've worked for that for years, myself, because my dad also died of
Alzheimer's. And there are stem cells that are available for
research.

But also we need to balance the interest in science with moral and
ethical issues that have to do with embryonic stem cell use. There are
also adult stem cell research that could be done, and there's a lot of
research going on.

We all hope that we can find a cure for Alzheimer's. we're going
to have a huge explosion of Alzheimer's, because of the aging baby
boomer population, if we don't find a cure or prevention for it.

Q Let's talk about the G8 summit here today. You are hosting
the spouses.

MRS. BUSH: That's right.

Q What's your goal?

MRS. BUSH: Well, I'm hosting the spouses of the G8. And if people
don't know, the G8 is made up of the largest economies, the countries
with the largest economies in the world. And because we are the most
developed countries with the largest economies, I think we have a
special responsibility to other countries around the world.

So today we're going to meet with a woman from the Iraqi Governing
Council and a woman from the Afghan Governing Council, and an Iraqi
Fulbright scholar who is studying here in the United States. People
may not know that we have 25 Iraqi Fulbright scholars in the United
States right now.

And we're going to talk about ways we can work together to help
women and children in those countries and worldwide.

Q Great. First Lady Laura Bush, thank you so much for joining
us this morning.